November 08, 2007

Golden Compass ... Free Advertising

You may as well know that The Golden Compass is a fantasy adventure set in an alternate universe, part of a trilogy of novels, published a decade ago.Several key themes of the novels, the rejection of organized religion and the abuse of power in a fictionalized Catholic Church, have been seriously diluted in the film adaptation. Director Weitz said "in the books the Magisterium is a version of the Catholic Church gone wildly astray from its roots" but that the organization portrayed in his film will not directly match that of Pullman's books. In an attempt to avoid a religious backlash, the Magisterium will instead be a critique of all dogmatic organizations.

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Weitz said that New Line Cinema had feared the story's perceived anti-religious themes would make the film financially unviable in the US, and so religion and God will not be referenced directly in the film. However, the negative publicity generate by the Catholic League is already showing sign of bringing greater attention to the movie, thus generating even greater revenue. It is rumored that this was actually engineered/encouraged by studio public relations ... that even though rewritten to exclude religious specific references, the Catholic League was encouraged to think otherwise: what the Catholic Church forbids will ultimately generate much higher attendance.

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What is forbidden is always more tempting.These knee-jerk reactions just make the movie better known and attract more viewers … including many that otherwise would have paid no attention all.

Comments

Thank you for posting this. I was just about to say something similar (but not so well) on my own blog. I do feel as though this is a trap that Christians (not only Catholics) are led into, time and again.

The other thing about this which interests me as a reader, is that the Pullman novels are well-written, well-told stories. Plus, Pullman knows his stuff (if you know your Milton, he's great fun!). I'd like to see us gather our information, see the picture, and be able to have a well-educated, thoughtful conversation with those who will inevitably see the movie(s).